One of the dangers of conference tournaments at the mid-major level is that the top seed, regardless of the margin by which they won the regular season title, are just 40 minutes away from seeing their dream of going to the NCAA tournament vanish. While there's still a chance as the Field of 68 won't be announced for another six days Iona and Middle Tennessee no longer have control of their own fate, and that has to be a concern for both fan bases along with the players and coaches.

Inevitably, when the committee announces the bracket on
selection sunday,
a "mid-major" will be highest ranked RPI team to be left out of the field.

Over the last 6 years, the highest RPI team not to make the field has
consistently come from a non-BCS conference. In fact, over the last three years,
the committee became even more biased. At least the 5 best RPI teams not to make
the field were "mid-majors".

Three tickets to the NCAA tournament will be punched on Saturday, beginning with the Big South title game matching seven-seed VMI and regular season champion UNC Asheville. Eddie Biedenbach's Bulldogs have avoided the turmoil on the opposite side of the bracket, which saw both Coastal Carolina and Campbell fall in the quarterfinals. Duggar Baucom's Keydets were the ones who knocked off CCU, as they shot an impressive 14-for-28 from three in their 85-68 win over the Chanticleers.

It's that
time of the year again. With conference tournament action beginning today, it
was a perfect time for Jon Teitel to present CollegeHoops.net's
All-Conference Teams. Part one focuses on the teams who will enter
conference tournament play this week, and the rest of the conferences will be
posted next week. Player of the Year selections are in italics.

It may feel like it was only yesterday when college basketball fans were excited about the prospect of playing a game on an aircraft carrier, but the most important time of the season is here. Championship "Week" ("Fortnight" sounds more appropriate) begins on Monday, February 27th and won't end until Selection Sunday on March 11th.